But that cornucopia of riches may well be released with less fanfare, perhaps sometime next week.

No, this year, the March event is going to be focused on Apple's TV and News subscription services, it seems.

Take a look at the invite. The legend, "It's Showtime" is a clue, of course, though frankly, every Apple keynote is quite the show, so it doesn't tell us that much.

That animated movie reel countdown in the invite.

Apple

But before the words are revealed, the animated invite scrolls through a film reel countdown like, you know, a cinema projector counting down to the first frame of a movie.

That's two big clues, then.

Plus, of course, there have been plenty of rumors that Apple News was gaining a refresh and we've known for a while that Apple was spending many millions of dollars creating content for its own service to rival Netflix, likely subscription-based.

Here's what we know.

Date and time

As predicted, the event is set for Monday, March 25. It'll start, as all Apple keynotes do, at 10AM local time.

The Steve Jobs Theater at Apple Park.

Apple

Place

The Steve Jobs Theater is the venue. That's another clue that this is a big event. It's the first time Apple has used its special location for any press event other than an iPhone launch.

Apple CEO Tim Cook at the Apple event at the Steve Jobs Theater, September 12, 2018.

David Phelan

What will be announced

Rumors have been flying that the event will be star-studded. Well, after all, if you've bought the services of J.J. Abrams and Jennifer Aniston, why wouldn't you show them off? Since Apple has deals with Oprah Winfrey, Steven Spielberg and others, with shows starring Aaron Paul, Steve Carell and Reese Witherspoon, don't be surprised if some of them make appearances.

The service is likely to be a subscription model, like Netflix or Amazon Prime but details such as price and when the programming will go live have yet to be confirmed.

The TV and movies Apple is paying for will be the big, attention-grabbing announcement, so expect this to go last. Apple knows how to build to a climax.

But there will also be the announcement of the subscription-based Apple News which will give access to hundreds of magazines, newspapers and so on for a set monthly fee, likely to be the same as Apple Music: $9.99 a month.

This is no surprise: Apple bought Texture, a digital magazine subscription service a year ago and the March 25 announcement has been expected pretty much ever since.

Press preparing to go downstairs to the auditorium in the Steve Jobs Theater at Apple Park.

David Phelan

No hardware at all?

The products look set to be announced in the days before March 25, though it's possible they will be mentioned, perhaps at the beginning of the event or as a way of saying, what better way to read your magazine, or watch your TV shows, than on a cool new iPad?